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Jordan Whittington 3/20/26 Jordan Whittington 3/20/26

Faith

Mark 7:24-30

24 And from there he arose and went away to the region of Tyre and Sidon.[g] And he entered a house and did not want anyone to know, yet he could not be hidden. 25 But immediately a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit heard of him and came and fell down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, a Syrophoenician by birth. And she begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Yes, Lord; yet even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” 29 And he said to her, “For this statement you may go your way; the demon has left your daughter.” 30 And she went home and found the child lying in bed and the demon gone.

Yesterday I promised the answer to our universal problem that we are “defiled” by our sin.

The answer is faith in Jesus.

I could end the devotion there, but in this passage we see a woman with remarkable faith that is more than worth our attention.

So Jesus is trying to keep a low profile, leaving Jewish lands, but even in Gentile territory He is a little too bright to be hidden. So this woman hears about Jesus, and immediately comes to Jesus.

Stop #1. She already has shown more faith than us. How often do we try to handle problems on our own? Whether it’s problems of life or sin problems, we wait until we’ve tried every other option before coming to Jesus. She comes to Jesus at her literal first opportunity (praise God we can always go straight to Jesus thanks to the Holy Spirit living in us).

She then falls at Jesus’ feet.

Stop #2. She again shows greater faith than us by coming to Jesus with complete and utter humility. No reluctance, no self-reliance, no pride, she falls at his feet.

Jesus then offers her a test, essentially asking why she, who is not part of God’s people, with an unclean daughter, should receive help from Him. Her answer reveals she knows she has nothing to bring but faith.

Stop #3. Oh how we need to learn this lesson, that we have nothing to bring before God except for faith and obedience. But instead we are tempted to approach God thinking of all we can do for Him and His Kingdom, missing that He has given us all we are and have anyways.

Finally, because of her faith Jesus heals her daughter. He tells her to be on her way, and immediately she returns home.

Stop #4. She trusts and obeys Jesus immediately. She does not require convincing, multiple commands to go, she doesn’t demand proof, or a trial run of Jesus’ power. Her faith is such that Jesus says He has worked and she acts as though He has.

Let us all learn from this woman’s example of faith, and live our lives trusting Jesus as quickly and as completely as she does.

Jordan Whittington 3/19/26 Jordan Whittington 3/19/26

Inside or Outside

Mark 7:14-23

14 And he called the people to him again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand: 15 There is nothing outside a person that by going into him can defile him, but the things that come out of a person are what defile him.”[e] 17 And when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable. 18 And he said to them, “Then are you also without understanding? Do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, 19 since it enters not his heart but his stomach, and is expelled?”[f] (Thus he declared all foods clean.) 20 And he said, “What comes out of a person is what defiles him. 21 For from within, out of the heart of man, come evil thoughts, sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, 22 coveting, wickedness, deceit, sensuality, envy, slander, pride, foolishness. 23 All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.”

First, an important definition of defile: means sully, mar, or spoil. In this case, Jesus references us being defiled in terms of us being spoiled in God’s eyes. This does not mean He does not love us, or instantly casts us aside, but that we are no longer able to be in His presence, because He is perfect in all things, and we are all corrupted by sin to our very core (until and unless we believe in Jesus and let Him do His work in us).

Yesterday we looked at this passage to see that nothing that has been done to us can defile us in God’s eyes. However, we are all defiled by the same thing. The sin and evil in our hearts.

We like to deny and minimize it, but if you look at Jesus’ list in verses 21-22, I know you are guilty of multiple things on that list (as am I). If nothing else we have at least great pride and foolishness to claim!

Tomorrow we will look at the good news that being defiled by our sin is not the end of the story, but today we mourn and repent of our sin.

Don’t minimize it, hide from it, or run from it. It is your sin that makes you guilty before our perfect God. So repent, turn from your sin, confessing it to God and to other faithful brothers and sisters, and see what happens in your heart. What the enemy tries to convince us will lead to our destruction actually leads to freedom and prospering life!

Take a few minutes this morning (or whenever you are reading this) to repent of your specific sins and ask God to forgive you and to help you leave your sin behind and run toward God with all the strength the Holy Spirit works within you.

Jordan Whittington 3/18/26 Jordan Whittington 3/18/26

Undefiled

Mark 7:14-23

So, I want to spend the next two days looking at this key passage that is central to this chunk of text. This passage is so essential because in it Jesus teaches what truly defiles us. There are two dangers we may fall into when it comes to perceiving what defiles us (see definition of defile in this context above).

The first danger is that we will see ourselves as defiled for the wrong reasons.

Jesus makes it clear that nothing that goes into us may defile us (in this case using the metaphor of eating, hence there are no “unclean” foods that make us morally unable to be with God). However, some of you need to also hear this metaphor expanded today.

Just like nothing you eat can defile you, nothing that can be done to you can defile you. No matter how evil, how cruel, or how vile. Some of you reading this have experienced some truly awful, unfair things at the hands of other people.

And yet you are not defiled. God does not look upon the victim of someone else’s sin and say “that one is defiled now”. He sees you and says “my child, come to me and I will wrap my arms around you”.

So if reading this today, you feel defiled by something that has been done to you or has happened to you, know that is a lie from the enemy.

And it is a dangerous lie, because it tempts you to focus on what has been done to you rather than your own sin in your heart that actually defiles you. Best case scenario is the recipe for a bitter and joyless life, worst case it makes it much harder for you to repent of your sin and ask Jesus to save you.

So hear today, what has been done to you does not defile you.

Jordan Whittington 3/17/26 Jordan Whittington 3/17/26

When Christians Reject Christ

Mark 7:9-13

9 And he said to them, “You have a fine way of rejecting the commandment of God in order to establish your tradition! 10 For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother’; and, ‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ 11 But you say, ‘If a man tells his father or his mother, “Whatever you would have gained from me is Corban”’ (that is, given to God)[d]— 12 then you no longer permit him to do anything for his father or mother, 13 thus making void the word of God by your tradition that you have handed down. And many such things you do.”

Yesterday we saw the danger in trusting in tradition rather than in the heart transformation that God offers. Today we see what happens when that danger is unnoticed or ignored.

The one who relies on tradition to save them will inevitably reject Christ and everything He stands for.

In this story, Jesus rebukes the Pharisees for allowing or even condoning a truly vile practice. Part of the Old Testament Law (God’s Law, not any human law) protected the elderly (and other often marginalized groups) by securing a method of provision for them. In this case, it was the responsibility of the son to take care of his parents should they need it as they age. However, the Pharisees were allowing younger men to declare that their possessions were “an offering to the Lord” (Corban). While not necessitating an immediate change in the son's lifestyle (the property would go to the religious leaders upon his death or slowly over time), the Pharisees then required the man to NOT support his parents, because then it would be taking something away that was promised to God.

Jesus offers the Pharisees a scathing rebuke for allowing or condoning this. In their efforts to so tightly follow tradition, religion, and rules of piety, the Pharisees forsook a key essential principle God’s Word teaches. Love and care for all, especially amongst God’s own people.

And before we think ourselves superior, we are just as capable of this as the Pharisees.

How many times have we seen the church fail to care for its community on the grounds of a specific sin of an individual or community, or even that community's hatred of the church?

How many times have we seen people in the church abuse authority, power, and influence to do what they think is best even when it flies in the face of what God’s Word teaches?

How many times have we seen the church callously treat the most broken people who seek Jesus out, because their sin or life circumstance is deemed too heinous or too difficult?

The answer is often, and we are not immune to that temptation, so we must watch to make sure we follow the commandments of God and not the commandments of men.

Jordan Whittington 3/16/26 Jordan Whittington 3/16/26

Tradition or Transformation?

Mark 7:1-8

Now when the Pharisees gathered to him, with some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem, 2 they saw that some of his disciples ate with hands that were defiled, that is, unwashed. 3 (For the Pharisees and all the Jews do not eat unless they wash their hands properly,[a] holding to the tradition of the elders, 4 and when they come from the marketplace, they do not eat unless they wash.[b] And there are many other traditions that they observe, such as the washing of cups and pots and copper vessels and dining couches.[c]) 5 And the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, “Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?” 6 And he said to them, “Well did Isaiah prophesy of you hypocrites, as it is written,

“‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their heart is far from me;

7 in vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’

8 You leave the commandment of God and hold to the tradition of men.”

This week, I’ll take us through the passage I preached on Sunday, Mark 7:1-30. I had to go over a lot of it quickly, so these devotionals will give us a chance to catch some important things we didn’t have time for Sunday or re-hit essential things.

The Pharisees had a major issue. Well actually they had multiple, but one is the most important. They were devoted to tradition, while lacking any transformation of their hearts. They followed all kinds of rituals, had all kinds of checklists of things to do and things to avoid doing (and even people to avoid).

Yet they are condemned by Jesus again and again. Why? Look at verse 6-8.

Their hearts were far from God. Do you see how that contaminated everything else they did? It didn’t matter that they had great things to say and to sing about God, because in their hearts they were far from Him. It didn’t matter that they thought they were following all the commandments, because in their hearts they were doing what they thought God wanted, even though He had told them again and again in His Word what they should do.

They all knew Micah 6:8, they probably even had it memorized.

Micah 6:8

He has told you, O man, what is good;

and what does the Lord require of you

but to do justice, and to love kindness,[a]

and to walk humbly with your God?

So I ask you today, is your heart far from God? Have you created traditions to follow instead of receiving the heart transformation that Jesus offers?

Ask God to draw your heart near to Him and to transform your life.